Over the course of the pandemic, the federal government has sent billions of dollars in emergency funding to states via three separate relief acts. A large portion of the appropriated funds within each act were earmarked for K–12 education, with the largest available funding stream being the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER.
Ohio schools have received more than $6 billion, most of it arriving courtesy of the final relief act, the American Rescue Plan (ARP). To access these funds, the U.S. Department of Education required states to submit plans detailing how they would spend ESSER dollars—including the 10 percent “set-aside” reserved for state-led initiatives. Ohio’s approved plan wasn’t very specific about how it intended to use the set-aside, likely to retain maximum flexibility. The plan did promise to do exactly what the law permits, and reserve at least 5 percent of its total ESSER allocation for evidence-based interventions that address the academic impact of lost time, at least 1 percent for summer learning and enrichment programs, and another 1 percent for comprehensive afterschool programs. It also offered a cursory glance at some current and potential interventions within each category.
Ohio’s plan was approved months ago, so most of the state’s set-aside dollars have already been spoken for. But there’s likely still some remaining, and districts and schools have hundreds of millions in allocations at their disposal. How they choose to spend this money matters immensely. And if they’re looking for inspiration, they should look no further than Maryland.
Maryland’s State Department of Education (MSDE) recently announced the launch of Maryland Leads, a grant program that provides districts with access to the state’s $133 million in ESSER funds through a single, non-competitive grant process. It focuses on seven evidence-backed strategies aimed at addressing learning loss and narrowing achievement gaps. It’s up to districts to decide which strategies to implement, but MSDE has calculated funding amounts to guarantee that each district receives enough money to implement programs related to at least two. For each strategy, the department has identified possible focus areas, potential uses for funding, partnership requirements, and resources for how the strategy is currently being practiced in the field.
There are lessons here for Ohio. At the state level, leaders could use any remaining set-aside funds—and perhaps even some ARP funding that wasn’t specifically designated for schools—to launch a similar initiative. Unlike Maryland Leads, which is non-competitive, Ohio could create a competitive program that awards funding to public schools committed to implementing high-leverage strategies patterned after the Maryland model. At the local level, schools could spend their relief funding on implementing those same strategies. And to have the biggest impact, Ohio should whittle Maryland’s seven ideas down to the following three.
Grow your own staff
Although staff shortages aren’t a Covid-caused problem, the pandemic has exacerbated the issue. Schools are struggling to stretch adults to meet kids’ needs, and some districts have even temporarily closed schools or switched to remote learning due to shortages. Down the road, it could become even more difficult to fill already hard-to-staff positions in subjects like math, science, special education, bilingual education, and CTE.
Many of the best solutions to the staffing shortage problem take a considerable amount of time and money—far more than a short-term grant program funded by temporary federal relief dollars can offer. But Ohio could use an ESSER-funded competitive grant program to help districts launch initiatives aimed at growing pipelines of teachers and professional staff. The Ohio Department of Education has already issued several grants to create or expand grow-your-own programs, so there are local blueprints for getting it done. ESSER funding could help. Possible initiatives include:
- Establishing a year-long, paid residency that offers prospective teachers clinical training and a clear path toward a state-approved teaching license.
- Creating job shadowing and internship programs for high school students interested in education, perhaps by expanding the reach of Educators Rising.
- Creating or expanding programs that offer support, financial assistance, and training to individuals interested in changing careers into the education field.
- Developing programs that help teaching assistants and support staff become teachers.
The science of reading
Everyone agrees—and research shows—that learning how to read proficiently is critical for young children. But how students are taught to read has historically been a controversial topic. Prior to Covid, the science of reading and the importance of properly preparing teachers to use it was already gaining ground. The pandemic—and its associated learning loss—seems to have increased that interest, so it makes sense that providing K–3 educators with rigorous professional development aligned to the science of reading is included as one of Maryland’s high-leverage strategies. Districts that choose this strategy must implement all three focus areas identified by MSDE. Ohio should follow suit and require districts that win grant funding to implement the following:
- Contract with a service provider to provide training on the science of reading directly to all K–3 teachers.
- Identify and implement high-quality and content-rich curricula, instructional materials, and assessment tools that are aligned to the science of reading.
- Create systems for progress monitoring that ensure all students are reading by the end of third grade, and if not, that they have the appropriate supports in higher grade levels.
High-quality school day tutoring
In a 2020 piece for Brookings, Matthew Kraft and Michael Goldstein argued that high-dosage tutoring has a “sizeable body of gold-standard evidence” that proves it can produce the kinds of large learning gains needed in the wake of the pandemic. Unlike the ad hoc afterschool tutoring programs available in most schools, high-dosage tutoring requires trained tutors to work with the same students at a single school throughout the entire school year. Students meet with their tutor daily during school hours, and the program is universally available to the entire student body. Content is personalized, and student-tutor ratios are limited to ensure one-on-one attention.
Ohio could heed this research and distribute ESSER funds to districts willing to design programs that offer high-dosage tutoring. Funding could be used to:
- Restructure the school day and embed tutoring into typical school hours.
- Recruit or provide stipends to high-quality tutors such as paraeducators, college students, non-teaching professionals, or tutoring providers.
- Provide rigorous and content-specific training for tutors.
***
To overcome learning loss, Ohio and its schools are going to have to get creative. A competitive grant program and district-led initiatives that use federal relief funds to implement evidence-based, high-level strategies have enormous potential to help students catch up. Ohio should take advantage.
